China car sales rise 20.3% in October

SHANGHAI: China’s auto sales surged 20.3 percent year-on-year in October, helped by a long holiday, an industry group said last week.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said sales reached 1.93 million vehicles in October, which includes a week-long break for the country’s National Day when buying typically jumps.

Sales had already leapt 19.7 percent year-on-year in September. In the first 10 months of the year, auto sales rose 13.5 percent to 17.82 million vehicles, the group said in a statement.

China, the world’s largest auto market, has proved to be the savior of many foreign car companies in the face of weak demand elsewhere, especially in Europe. The country’s auto sales grew 4.3 percent annually to 19.31 million vehicles in 2012, hit by limits on numbers imposed by some cities to ease traffic congestion and tackle pollution.

Analysts are forecasting a better year in 2013, despite a growth slowdown in the first half of the year in China, which is also the world’s second-largest economy.